Posts By Sabrina Rojas Weiss

January 27th, 2012 | 12:52 pm by Sabrina Rojas Weiss (@shalapitcher)

Gaultier’s Runway Tribute To Amy Winehouse: Playful Or Tasteless?

When we first saw photos from Jean-Paul Gaultier’s Paris Couture show on Wednesday, we thought the designer’s tribute to Amy Winehouse — models in behive wigs, outfits slightly askew, as an a capella doowop band performed her hits — sounded playful and kind of sweet. Apparently, her family disagrees.

“The family was upset to see those pictures, they were a total shock,” Mitch Winehouse reportedly told The Sun, accusing the fashion house of cashing in on Amy’s image. (This coming from a grieving father who’s publishing a memoir about Amy due out this summer, but you know, he’s doing it for the kids.) Many agree that it was not in the best taste, what with the models’ smeared makeup and cigarettes not showing Amy at her best, and say JPG probably should be pledging some cash to the Amy Winehouse Foundation, the way her Fred Perry Collection has done. We’re torn.

[Photo: Getty Images]

January 27th, 2012 | 10:25 am by Sabrina Rojas Weiss (@shalapitcher)

R.I.P. Robert Hegyes, A.K.A. Juan Epstein: An Unlikely Hero Of Immigrant Kids

Actor Robert Hegyes died after an apparent heart attack in his native New Jersey yesterday, the New Jersey Star-Ledger reports. The 60-year-old, who acted on Broadway, co-starred in Cagney and Lacey and guest-starred in everything from the Drew Carey Show to Diagnosis Murder, will forever be remembered as high school student Juan Luis Pedro Filipo De Huevos Epstein, his role on Welcome Back, Kotter, from 1975-1979.

Most people think of Kotter as the show that made John Travolta’s career. Not me. Though of Italian descent himself, the Jewish Puerto Rican Hegyes played has always been a kind of icon for mixed-up products of immigration. As the daughter of a Dominican and a Hungarian Israeli, I basically grew up hearing “Juan Epstein” jokes all my life, and I can’t say I minded it. If people associated my crazy background with a wise-cracking kid on TV reruns, that seemed pretty cool to me. Even in a sitcom setting, Juan’s exchange with Gabe Kaplan’s Mr. Kotter in the first episode sounds mighty familiar.

Kotter: Your mother’s Puerto Rican?
Epstein: No, my father. My mother’s name is Bibberman.
Kotter: I didn’t know there were Epsteins in Puerto Rico.
Epstein: Oh, there weren’t. Until the winter of ’38, when a boat carrying a shivering Lou Epstein from Odessa to the Bronx stopped in San Juan.

Check out this video of the Kotter cast’s reunion at last year’s TV Land Awards.
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January 26th, 2012 | 5:19 pm by Sabrina Rojas Weiss (@shalapitcher)

Mirror, Mirror’s Lily Collins And Armie Hammer Play Tricks On Us

Take a quick look at Lily Collins and Armie Hammer in the photos from Mirror, Mirror above. Now, what would be your wild guess about their age difference? Wait, let’s make it a little harder (and play along, literal-minded folks who have already checked IMDb): Armie plays an FBI agent in J.Edgar; Lily will play a 16-year-old girl in City of Bones. That made us feel a little icky when we saw the latest Mirror, Mirror featurette, in which Lily appears to lust after a bare-chested Armie.

January 26th, 2012 | 3:00 pm by Sabrina Rojas Weiss (@shalapitcher)

Where Would Blake Lively Rank Among Steven Soderbergh’s Leading Ladies?

Steven Soderbergh’s having kind of a crap week, what with disappointing numbers for his latest action flick, Haywire, and the news that Annapurna Pictures backed out of one of his next projects, Side Effects. But we feel more sorry for Blake Lively, as some industry sources are speculating that backers aren’t so sure she can handle the role of a young woman caught in a love triangle with her doctor (Jude Law) and her paroled husband (Channing Tatum). It sounds like a heavy step up from Gossip Girl and Green Lantern, but it wouldn’t be the first time Soderbergh has managed to make a movie star into a serious actress. (One of those actresses, Catherine Zeta-Jones, has signed on for another role in Side Effects, giving ol’ Steven a vote of confidence.) Then again, he’s also had a few misses in that category too. Let’s take a look at what the critics have said about five of his leading ladies’ performances:

1. Jennifer Lopez in Out of Sight: “At the center of the film is the repartee between Jennifer Lopez and George Clooney, and these two have the kind of unforced fun in their scenes together that reminds you of Bogart and Bacall. There’s a seduction scene in which the dialogue is intercut with the very gradual progress of the physical action, and it’s the dialogue that we want to linger on.” — Roger Ebert

“Lopez, for all her Latina-siren voluptuousness, has always projected a contained coolness, and this is the first movie in which it fully works for her. As Sisco is lured into a romance with Foley, you can see her resolve melt in spite of itself.” — Entertainment Weekly

January 26th, 2012 | 12:21 pm by Sabrina Rojas Weiss (@shalapitcher)

Gwen Stefani And Gavin Rossdale: A Love Timeline Amid Split Rumors

We’re pretty much refusing to believe Star magazine’s report that Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale’s marriage is on the rocks — partly because our hearts can’t take any more celebrity divorces, partly because we haven’t seen any other corroboration. GossipCop says a source close to the couple calls the rumor completely false. But after Demi and Ashton, Katy and Russell, Heidi and Seal — need we go on? — we’re just a little gun-shy. So, don your rose-colored glasses with us and review the timeline of this match made in ’90s rocker heaven.

1995: Gwen and Gavin meet when No Doubt and Bush tour together (with the Goo Goo Dolls! Oh, the ’90s). Gavin described their first date to Details: “I threw a party in New Orleans just as an excuse to hang out with her. We drank a bunch of hurricanes and went around the French Quarter. We had our first kiss that night, just walking around, being careful to step over the puddles of pee. The next day we had that sort of cute, embarrassed, sober meet-up.”

2002: Gavin and Gwen get married.

January 26th, 2012 | 10:36 am by Sabrina Rojas Weiss (@shalapitcher)

Jordin Sparks Brings Jason Derulo Breakfast In Bed As His Broken Neck Heals

Awww. Since 23-year-old R&B crooner Jason Derulo fractured his neck earlier this month during tour rehearsal, girlfriend Jordin Sparks has been at his side. “She lives in Phoenix and she comes [to Miami] and takes care of me, brings me breakfast in bed and she’ll go on walks with me,” he told People. “We’ve gotten closer because of my accident. It’s awesome to have someone you can talk to and she’s a wonderful person.”

The singer has built a studio in his Miami home and told People that the support he’s received since the accident has inspired him to write new music. Meanwhile, we love seeing Jordin and Jason tweet each other. After he complained last week, “I can’t believe its only been two weeks! it feels like I’ve been wearing this neck brace for 2 yrs!” She replied, “@jasonderulo One step at a time…reminds me of a song. ”
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January 25th, 2012 | 5:38 pm by Sabrina Rojas Weiss (@shalapitcher)

Hunger Games’ Elizabeth Banks Describes Her “Outrageous” Effie Trinket

I experienced a tiny bit of job envy when I was introduced to the CapitolCouture Tumblr this week. Can you imagine getting enough access to those movie stills to write blogs about Effie’s gold McQueen peep-toe shoes? I’ll have to settle for having met Effie Trinket herself last week. Oops, #humblebrag. After Elizabeth Banks and I shared a little lament over having given away all our copies of The Hunger Games, I asked her if she minds that we ask her more about playing Effie than, say about her movie that’s out this week, Man on a Ledge.

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“I’m really happy to talk about The Hunger Games, especially with fellow fans,” she said. (You see that? We are “fellow fans” now!) “It’s going to be a great movie. Anytime you make something that you know is going to be highly entertaining and is about something, it’s a really special experience and something that I’m really looking forward to sharing.”

Twitter fans asked us to ask her about Effie costumes, naturally. But despite our newfound bond, she was pretty vague on the matter.
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January 25th, 2012 | 3:29 pm by Sabrina Rojas Weiss (@shalapitcher)

Stilettos, Skin And Snow: Estelle, Paris And Others Shiver For Style At Sundance

While we’ve spent some time this week admiring the very practical wardrobe choices of the stars at the Sundance Film Festival, we also had a few SMH moments as we flipped through some pics from Park City. Some celebrities refuse to trade in their typical Hollywood red-carpet style for puffy coats and Sorels. Take Estelle, for instance, who was at the festival for the first time.

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“It’s cold! It’s snowy and cold! Why do they do this here?” the British songstress asked VH1 News as we noticed her beautiful, but very delicate, sparkly pumps. “Darling, I have to be fabulous! I don’t want duck boots! I have duck boots; I left them home in New York.”

But if she comes back again next year, she’ll give in. “I will be here in furs, big thick jumpers, boots, and I will not take them off for anybody. Layers are cute.”

Check out all the other stars who sacrificed comfort for style, including Paris Hilton, Kate Bosworth, AnnaLynne McCord and more. And you can find the rest of VH1 News’ Sundance interviews right here.

January 25th, 2012 | 2:12 pm by Sabrina Rojas Weiss (@shalapitcher)

Seal And Heidi Klum: Doomed To Split Or Destined To Reunite?

Even as Seal insists to Piers Morgan, Tavis Smiley and Ellen DeGeneres that he and Heidi Klum still love and respect each other, despite their separation, the gossip world is doing its darndest to dig up dirt on why the super couple is splitting. We’re kind of getting whiplash from this whole thing — do they still have a chance at a reunion, or has divorce been a long time coming? Draw your own conclusions based on these stories:

TMZ still maintains that Seal’s “volcanic” temper is the cause of their problems. Talk about a blow to our image of the man who just sang Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” on Ellen.

Some sources told People that the couple’s trip to Aspen over the holidays marked “the final straw” of their relationship. “Aspen didn’t go as well as planned … there were more lows than highs.” At the same time, paparazzi in the ski town were just as blissfully unaware as the rest of us: “They couldn’t stop kissing and cuddling. They spent a lot of time with their kids, but also managed to sneak in several solo ski runs together. If they were having problems, they were definitely not showing during the day.”

January 25th, 2012 | 12:12 pm by Sabrina Rojas Weiss (@shalapitcher)

Did Terry Richardson Photograph Himself Having Sex With Juliette Lewis?

Actress Juliette Lewis does seem to be the kind of lady who is game for all sorts of crazy antics. Still, we wore the expression she has above when we glimpsed a rather graphic photo, first tweeted by the aptly named @TotallyNSFW and then posted on Fleshbot. Gawker is convinced that it is indeed what it appears to be: Juliette having sex with Terry Richardson while standing up. Update: Gawker received an email from Juliette’s publicist denying that the photo is of the actress, yet simultaneously demanding that they take the photo down.

Here’s all we can post of the pic:
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